Counseling Psychology Department

Course Descriptions

COU MV540—TRAUMA AND THE MILITARY

1 credit

This course will examine the manner in which military culture and training impact the experience of trauma for service members and veterans. Students will be oriented to the challenges for trauma treatment associated with a military tradition that valorizes physical and mental toughness, courageous action in the face of extreme danger, and vigilance against physical or emotional vulnerability. Students will also study how intense comradeship bonds formed by both male and female military personnel are likely to affect service members and veterans who experience traumatic events. Students will investigate the fit of contemporary models of trauma treatment and empirically supported interventions to the mental health needs of traumatized service members and veterans. Special emphasis will be placed on the multidimensional nature of exposure to violence suffered by many combat veterans, who may have been a victim or perpetrator of, as well as a witness to, horrific events. Specific attention will be paid to Post Traumatic Stress conditions in both active duty personnel and veterans, as well as to differences in the clinical treatment of these two groups. Issues of assessment and treatment of traumatic brain injury, military sexual trauma, and transmission of trauma to non-military family members will also be addressed in the context of cultural and individual differences.